Hawkeye
New Member
I bought two Leonard Messel Magnolias late spring whose leaves were quite sparse at the time. They were half price so I figured they were worth a gamble. When I got them out of the pots, the roots were quite densely packed in there. Pretty immediately after planted, they both lost all the leaves above the first two branches. Over the next few weeks, the remaining live branches leafed out nicely and new growth appeared lower on the trunk. One of them even sent up a chute from the roots. So before long they got to the point you see in the picture, nice and alive below and dead at the top.
Assuming the tops are gone and will not come back next spring, are these worth saving? I'm sure they'll survive, but will they ever look like decent trees after dying back this much? If they're worth saving, what's the best pruning strategy?
Assuming the tops are gone and will not come back next spring, are these worth saving? I'm sure they'll survive, but will they ever look like decent trees after dying back this much? If they're worth saving, what's the best pruning strategy?